Day Three of Our Visit to Grand Cayman
Sting Rays, colorful fish and Swimming (Saturday)
On Saturday morning, just after breakfast, we called Red Sail Sports to confirm they could take the nine of us on a glass bottomed boat trip to a special part of the ocean where we can be with stingrays. The business and picturesque dock at Rum Point is just down the road from our house, so it was only a 20 minute walk for some and a 5 minute drive for others to get the shop. We all arrived at around 9:00, bought some aqua socks for use at home and rented swim fins, mask with snorkel to used on our trip to visit the stingrays and fish. As it turned out, they had set up the boat just for us so we were the only ones on that short trip out from Rum Point at the top center of the map (near our home.
Soon our boat, with Captain Jimmy Ebanks with his boat mate Nick took us for about 20 minutes to a place where stingrays have learned over many years to come for food. And come they do. Other boats were already and people were standing in about three feet of water, petting, feeding and being bumped by the obviously tame and friendly rays.
Soon were too were standing in the water being bombarded by about 20 to 25 stingrays. A few were small, learning how to beg from the larger, older ones. We had to be careful not to hurt ourselves on their sharp points on their tails, but it was no problem. It was a little strange to have them swim up to you, bump you and swim past, brushing you as a cat walks by and rubs against you. Sometimes you would almost fall over just because you were sort of afraid of them. Captain Jimmy took pity on Rachel, who is not a swimmer and uncomfortable in the water, and let her hold a large female stingray - 40 year old Helen, a slightly pregnant Southern Stingray. With great trepidation, Rachel did hold the ray for some time and then she fed it some squid. They almost became best buds. It was obvious that Helen knew Captain Jimmy and they were both fond of each other. Oh, if you wanted, you could even buy a conch shell from Captain Jimmy - after hearing how it sounded when he blew into it, anyone would want to be able to do and hear the same thing.
Rachel held and fed Helen, the stingray, with Jimmy.
Captain Jimmy Ebanks steals a kiss from Sarah, the Southern Stingray at Stingray Sandbar
(borrowed video)
After about twenty minutes with the stingrays, Captain Jimmy took our boat about a football field away to where the water was much deeper (maybe 12 feet) and the fish and coral were plentiful. As with the rays, a little feeding did wonders in bringing the fish to visit us - especially Captain Jimmy who fed them and they followed him like baby ducks follow their momma. He was able to coax a huge morey eel out of his hiding place and almost to the surface as he fed him and finally allowed the eel to stick his head into the plastic box that carried food. It was amazing to see this eel, as long as Captain Jimmy was tall, appear on command and show himself for some food treats. It was also impressive to see the hundreds of colorful fish that came out to see our captain and get some food for themselves. The picture of fish on the right was not by us, but it was one of the best I found to show the kinds and number of fish that we saw.
We bought a newspaper and there was a story about the "famous and entertaining" Captain Jimmy Ebanks. The article was correct when it said "he will entertain you from the minute you step on the boat to the moment you pull back to the dock." We can share that the newspaper was right.
For a 4:20 video of a stingray and moray eel at Stingray City go here.
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After lunch we did a variety of things, but the boys went down to the sea. Some of us worked on the computers and then went to the nearby grocery store for a few food items since all groceries are closed on Sunday. When we returned, we put on our swimming suits and went to join the others in the water. We found a good snorkeling mask and I was able to see a small number of interesting fish in about four feet of water,
Then Bonnie suggested I go to a place "way over there" to see a really cool place with lots of fish and coral. So we walked and walked until we were about to where she thought the place was. We swam way out in the sea (very deep) as I breathed totally with the snorkel. That was not a good thing to do and I decided that it was important that I get back to shore. With the help of a little raft, I did return to shore. I figured I should be happy just to look at the few fish I could see in shallower water. Rachel and I stayed closer to shore and mostly talked a lot - BUT Rachel is getting a little bit over her fear of the water.
At one point, Bonnie called us over to see an eel that Jacob had found in about four feet of water. It was in a little hole surrounded by small stones. Every once in a while you could see it come out of the hole exposing about three inches of it's body. That was a great find. Not as impressive as the morey eel we saw earlier in the day, but we found this one ourselves.
That night, before supper, Bonnie actually did catch a ghost crab. It was about three inches across and demonstrated a quick escape when released. The truth is that we do not know if it is an actual ghost crab - but it looks like they look - so maybe it is. In any case, it was an awesome find.
On Saturday morning, just after breakfast, we called Red Sail Sports to confirm they could take the nine of us on a glass bottomed boat trip to a special part of the ocean where we can be with stingrays. The business and picturesque dock at Rum Point is just down the road from our house, so it was only a 20 minute walk for some and a 5 minute drive for others to get the shop. We all arrived at around 9:00, bought some aqua socks for use at home and rented swim fins, mask with snorkel to used on our trip to visit the stingrays and fish. As it turned out, they had set up the boat just for us so we were the only ones on that short trip out from Rum Point at the top center of the map (near our home.
Soon were too were standing in the water being bombarded by about 20 to 25 stingrays. A few were small, learning how to beg from the larger, older ones. We had to be careful not to hurt ourselves on their sharp points on their tails, but it was no problem. It was a little strange to have them swim up to you, bump you and swim past, brushing you as a cat walks by and rubs against you. Sometimes you would almost fall over just because you were sort of afraid of them. Captain Jimmy took pity on Rachel, who is not a swimmer and uncomfortable in the water, and let her hold a large female stingray - 40 year old Helen, a slightly pregnant Southern Stingray. With great trepidation, Rachel did hold the ray for some time and then she fed it some squid. They almost became best buds. It was obvious that Helen knew Captain Jimmy and they were both fond of each other. Oh, if you wanted, you could even buy a conch shell from Captain Jimmy - after hearing how it sounded when he blew into it, anyone would want to be able to do and hear the same thing.
After about twenty minutes with the stingrays, Captain Jimmy took our boat about a football field away to where the water was much deeper (maybe 12 feet) and the fish and coral were plentiful. As with the rays, a little feeding did wonders in bringing the fish to visit us - especially Captain Jimmy who fed them and they followed him like baby ducks follow their momma. He was able to coax a huge morey eel out of his hiding place and almost to the surface as he fed him and finally allowed the eel to stick his head into the plastic box that carried food. It was amazing to see this eel, as long as Captain Jimmy was tall, appear on command and show himself for some food treats. It was also impressive to see the hundreds of colorful fish that came out to see our captain and get some food for themselves. The picture of fish on the right was not by us, but it was one of the best I found to show the kinds and number of fish that we saw.
That night, before supper, Bonnie actually did catch a ghost crab. It was about three inches across and demonstrated a quick escape when released. The truth is that we do not know if it is an actual ghost crab - but it looks like they look - so maybe it is. In any case, it was an awesome find.
